GM hires Nio and Lyft executives; Stellantis debauchery Amazon VP

Automakers General Motors and Stellantis have hired executives from several tech companies, including Amazon and Lyft, as industries continue to compete for top talent.

Automakers announced the hires on Tuesday, marking the latest round of talent exchanges between the auto and tech industries as the sectors converge with the emergence of connected, autonomous and electric vehicles.

GM is adding four new executives to its BrightDrop EV commercial delivery and logistics business, which the company announced in January. The new hires are effective immediately, according to GM:

• Anthony Armenta, former vice president of engineering at Postmates, will be chief technology officer.
• Rachad Youssef, former vice president of software product management at Chinese electric vehicle start-up Nio, will be director of products.
• Shaluinn Fullove, formerly Lyft’s global head of staff for autonomous technology and ridesharing platforms, will join as director of human resources.
• Steve Hornyak, former Commercial Director of Fabric, will become Director of Revenue.

Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, announced it has hired Ned Curic, Amazon vice president of Alexa Automotive, as the first CTO since the company was formed through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and French automaker PSA. Group in January.

“Ned is joining us at the perfect time to shape Stellantis in the context of unprecedented change in our industry,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement.

Curic, who previously worked at Toyota Motor and Microsoft, will start at Stellantis on August 30.

The automotive and tech industries are increasingly fighting for talent with the emergence of connected vehicles and businesses on both sides researching and developing autonomous vehicles. Auto start-ups such as Lucid and Rivian are also in the running for top talent from both sectors.

Tech companies have won in recent years. Ford Motor lost its CTO earlier this month to Amazon as well as two marketing directors from Google and Facebook in 2020. Last time GM also lost CFO Dhivya Suryadevara to the payments company digital Stripe. Prior to that, Alicia Boler Davis – who ran GM’s global manufacturing – left for Amazon.